Cyclopean Congregation
The Cyclopean Congregation is a Chaos Cult of degenerate Navigators and decadent voidsmen led by Kokabiel Grigoris that is active in the Jericho Reach, particularly the region known as Kokabiel's Drop. Named for Kokabiel and his inner circle of renegade Navigators, all of whom are blind save for their Third Eye, the Congregation is a mystery cult that promises illumination through communion with the Warp rift known as the Hadex Anomaly. Practicing complex rites of initiation, the cult's upper echelons are open only to full-blooded Navigators. Only those with the Warp Eye, preaches Kokabiel, can appreciate the Anomaly for what it truly is. According to his own blasphemous lore, Kokabiel's Drop is more than a convoluted region of the Immaterium. It is the entrance to a stable Warp-route spiralling into the heart of the Hadex Anomaly, a place where the meanings of space and time are inverted. The fallen Navigator leads his Cyclopean Congregation on blasphemous pilgrimages along this route, each journey a profane recreation of the Imperial Navy Grand Cruiser Burden of Vigilance's first passage through the Anomaly before the mutiny led by Grigoris that placed it in his hands as the renamed Burden of Revelation. During these voyages, acolytes of the cult ritually blind themselves, sacrificing an eye for each level of initiation attained within the cult. The lowest tiers of the Congregation are a collection of outcast voidsmen. Largely ignorant of the true nature of the cult, many of these voidborn fanatics lost their Humanity to madness and mutation long before pledging fealty to Kokabiel. Wandering corridors and groping along bulkheads, the most devoted acolytes eagerly trade their sight for deeper initiation. Most revered outside Kokabiel's inner circle are the "Typhlotics," bearers of the dormant Navigator gene. Culled from renegade houses and the extended families of raided Navigator households, these priests of the Congregation command the voidsmen flock and act as intermediaries between the cult's inner and outer circles. Having sacrificed both eyes already, Typhlotics go a step further, carving jagged spirals into their foreheads. Symbolising both the coiling route of Kokabiel's Drop and the swirling energies contained in their prophet's Third Eye, these scars mark the high priests of the Congregation. The inner circle of the Cyclopean Congregation consists exclusively of Navigators personally initiated by Kokabiel at the nucleus of the Hadex Anomaly. The Congregation's oracles and hierophants, these prodigal scions of the Navis Nobilite, are the unquestioned masters of the cult. Spending most of their time in quiet contemplation, the Cyclopean Oracles speak only to disseminate prophecy and issue orders to the Typhlotic clergy. The Cyclopean Oracles possess the greatest secret of the Congregation. Using the Hadex Anomaly as a guide in place of the psychic beacon of the Astronomican, they navigate the Congregational Fleet safely and nearly instantaneously across the Jericho Reach. History A Burden Returned In 789.M41, Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus charged the highly decorated Commodore Bronislave Tenermaritus with the task of charting a stable Warp route between the Cellebos Warzone and Samech, allowing Achilus Crusade forces to make a direct strike against that planet of Hereteks, crippling the manufactoria and orbital shipyards supplying the Stigmartus war effort. Taking as his guide one Kokabiel Grigoris, a relatively young but gifted Navigator following his house's long tradition of service to the Imperial Navy, the commodore set out upon his flagship, the ''Avenger''-class Grand Cruiser Burden of Vigilance. Despite the best efforts of the Burden's commander, Navigator, and crew, the Warp beyond the Cellebos Warzone proved nearly impossible to chart. Warp eddies terminated into immaterial shoals, aetheric currents flowed back upon themselves, and the bilious emissions of the Hadex Anomaly obscured the sight of Kokabiel and his subordinate Navigators. After solar months of fruitless exploration the Burden of Vigilance fell prey to the Haruspex, a pack of xenos marauders believed to originate within the Slinnar Drift. Commodore Tenermaritus perished in the ensuing battle, atomised during a valiant boarding action against the Haruspex Lifeseeker. The commodore's sacrifice routed the xenos fleet, granting the Burden enough time to flee through a recently discovered Warp passage veering dangerously close to the Hadex Anomaly. The Burden's final message, intercepted by the astropathic listening post on Pyrathas, claimed a great discovery waited at the end of the route. In the years following the disappearance of the Burden of Vigilance, the site of its last battle gained a sinister reputation. Voidships passing through the area drifted far off-course. The sendings of all but the most powerful astropaths faded into the void. A rare few vessels vanished outright. Superstitious voidsmen dubbed this region of Warpspace "the Drop." In 793.M41 a mysterious vessel of Imperial design began preying on voidships passing through the Drop. Lucia's Gauntlet, one of the few voidships to escape such an attack, identified the vessel as the Burden of Vigilance, now re-christened the Burden of Revelation and captained by Kokabiel Grigoris. Quickly recognising the threat presented by the rogue Navigator, the Imperial Navy forces of the Achilus Crusade's Acheros Salient stepped up patrols in the Drop. Regrettably, this move served only to provide Kokabiel with more prey. Of the flotilla dispatched from Calist, a third fell to the Burden of Revelation's guns. A half dozen vanished beyond the Drop in a futile search for Kokabiel's sanctuary. Of the remaining vessels, only three are accounted for, arriving at Khazant over a solar decade later after limping through the Warp without Navigators. The Tariff Grigoris claims the Drop and all space beyond as his domain, requiring tribute from those passing through. Voidships unfortunate enough to run afoul of the Burden of Revelation must pay the toll or face reprisal. The exact nature of this toll depends upon Kokabiel's whims and the needs of his vessel. Fuel, provisions, and crew are the most common price for safe passage. On other occasions Kokabiel demands a teratonne of bilge water, spent macrocannon shells, or some other voidship by-product of little apparent use. Lord captains who refuse to pay the tariff face Kokabiel's vengeance. Most are fired upon outright, their voidships raided by mad acolytes of the Cyclopean Congregation. Warships capable of defending against hit-and-run attacks are stalked for days, hounded by the Burden of Revelation as it flits into and out of the Warp just long enough to unleash volleys of Lance fire. A lamentable few are given the illusion of escape. Left untouched by a seemingly resigned Kokabiel, these vessels soon find themselves off course, lost in the Drop and drifting ever closer to the core of the Hadex Anomaly. By special order of Lord Militant Tetrarchus, all commanders of the Acheros Salient Navy are prohibited from acquiescing to Kokabiel's demands. Those who fail to abide by this order face a Traitor's execution. Naval commanders are left with a difficult choice; brave Kokabiel's Drop and risk an encounter with the master of the Cyclopean Congregation, or bypass the Drop entirely and add weeks to the length of a voyage. Promise of Illumination Kokabiel foretells a coming age of chaos and despair, a time when the Astronomican will fail, leaving the Navis Nobilite scrabbling in the abyssal dark. The Nobilite's only salvation, Kokabiel preaches, comes in the form of the Hadex Anomaly, a new and vital light in the Warp. Those who comprehend the mysteries of the Anomaly and use its light to guide their passage through the Warp will be the masters of the coming age. Kokabiel envisions a time when the influence of the Anomaly encompasses the galaxy entire, every Segmentum awash in its bloody glow. Congregational Fleet A development unknown to the masters of the Achilus Crusade, Kokabiel Grigoris commands a growing fleet of voidships. Dubbed the "Congregational Fleet," this flotilla of ramshackle craft is composed of voidships lost to the Anomaly over the past millennium. Patiently gathered and retrofitted by the Cyclopean Congregation, the fleet is currently moored among the remains of a shattered moon. Repaired with archeotechnology cannibalised from derelicts considered beyond all hope of redemption, these ships are being prepared for war. Notable Vessels * Burden of Revelation (''Avenger''-class Grand Cruiser) -- Kokabiel's flagship * Via Infractus Allies and Enemies Kokabiel Grigoris and the Cyclopean Congregation do not exist in isolation. Grigoris' machinations are entangled with the disparate factions at war in the Reach, creating a complex web of alliances and rivalries worthy of the most experienced Aeldari manipulator. House Der'cel Pronounced Excommunicate Traitoris for its involvement in the Sepphoris Secession, this renegade Navigator house is a recent arrival to the Reach. Intercepted by representatives of the Congregation near Argoth, the entirety of House Der'cel converted to the Cyclopean Congregation in a single night. The Der'cel highliner Via Infractus is currently moored at an unknown location within the Charon Stars. The Via Infractus is currently the home of a massive breeding program, the birthplace of a new generation of Navigators raised from inception in the Cyclopean fold. Samech The Cyclopean Congregation is on uneasy footing with the hereteks of Samech. Once tentative trading partners, relations soured after Kokabiel purchased cloning technology to expedite the Congregation's first breeding program. The technology proved faulty, producing inchoate masses of palpitating tissue useless to the cult's long term goals. Though Kokabiel swore revenge and bombarded multiple heretek orbital stations at the edge of the Samech system, he has yet to deal a crushing blow against the heretek Magus responsible for crafting the faulty accelerated maturation chambers. Stigmartus Unbeknownst to Lord Militant Solomon Tetrarchus, the Burden of Revelation preys upon Stigmartus warships as readily as Imperial vessels. Though Officer-Bishops are not outright forbidden from bargaining with Kokabiel for safe passage through the Drop, Elak Sarda takes a dim view of subordinates willing to acquiesce to the rogue Navigator's demands. The Cult-General's pride prevents him from entering diplomatic relations with the leader of a rival cult, and his military actions against Kokabiel continually meet with failure. The Word Bearers The Deathwatch Rapid Strike Vessel Final Mercy recently witnessed a meeting between the Burden of Revelation and the Word Bearers Battle Barge Inexorable Ruination deep in the Charon Stars. Both ships vanished into the Immaterium after discovery. Investigation of the area revealed the remains of a third ship of xenos origin. See Also *'Hadex Anomaly' Sources * Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault (RPG), pp. 85-86 Category:C Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Cults Category:Cyclopean Congregation Category:Jericho Reach Category:Hadex Anomaly